EOPL as a textbook - pros/cons

Greetings,
I teach at a small liberal arts college (mostly math but some CS
as well). I will be teaching a junior-level programming languages
course in the spring. This will be the third time I've taught it. The
first two times I used a survey-style book (Louden) and have been
somewhat disappointed in the results. In particular - I felt like I
was talking in vague generalities too often. I have been looking into
using EOPL but am hesitant to take the plunge. On the one hand I like
the idea of the students getting their hands dirty and actually
building interpreters. On the other hand - I am worried that the
approach might seem too abstract for many of the students and that the
need to teach the prerequisitie amount of scheme might chew up too
much of the semester. I would be interested in hearing the experience
of other instructors with the text, particulary those who have used it
with students who have no prior experience with scheme. Suggestions
for alternate texts and comments from students are also welcome.

-John Coleman

"John Coleman" <jcoleman@franciscan.edu> wrote in message
> I would be interested in hearing the experience
> of other instructors with the text, particulary those who have used it
> with students who have no prior experience with scheme. Suggestions
> for alternate texts and comments from students are also welcome.
>
> -John Coleman

I'd like to direct your attention to some posts on comp.lang.scheme by
Shriram Krishnamurthi.

2004-06-09 06:15:01 PST

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g...own.edu&rnum=20



2004-06-09 19:50:00 PST

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=E...rown.edu&rnum=3



Here is the start of a subthread. Look for posts following by Shriram
Krishnamurthi and Will Clinger.



2000/07/22 Ehud Lamm

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...r />
723234411
.52696A-100000%2540pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il%26rnum%3D12



Let me give you some context for the first two posts. I posted a question
about a statement in EOPL. Bill Richter asked Shriram if Shriram's textbook
Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation would be good for me.
Shriram responded with comments on PLAI and EOPL and his experience in
teaching courses in programming languages.



My background is different from your students. I probably have a lot more
programming experience and math education. I don't think that matters in
Shriram's answer.



The third post seems to be related to the first one, because in the name
Ehud Lamm occurs in both. It seems Ehud Lamm was asking a question similar
to yours and Shriram replied.



Shriram Krishnamurthi teaches CS173 at Brown University.
http://www.cs.brown.edu/~sk/

On further investigation, he also teaches a lot of other stuff at Brown
University. :-)